“As a queer person, I question my body constantly, and that particular incident cemented the idea that I wasn’t really the owner of my body. I think the idea of a whole, entire body is a fantasy; it’s just a collection of parts.”— Haneyl Choi
Haneyl Choi | Image courtesy of the artist, Selen Mecoglu and ODDA Korea
Haneyl Choi (b.1991, Seoul, Korea) is a sculptor who explores sculpture’s formative potential as a narrative framework, yielding symbolic configurations of individuals, archetypes, and sites of encounter that engage multiple visual perspectives and elicit indeterminate interpretations. Choi received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture from Seoul National University in 2016 and Master of Fine Arts from Korea National University of Arts in 2018. In his body of work, the ambiguity that pervades Choi’s oeuvre informs his ongoing inquiry into sculpture’s expressive potential as both signifier and signified, and bespeaks his critical stance toward identity politics, consumer culture, normative social structures, and postmodern discourse in contemporary art.
Haneyl Choi, Physically: Emanating rhythm of glistening intestines, 2023 | Image courtesy of the artist and P21
Choi has held solo exhibitions at Arario Museum in Space (Seoul, 2021), Commonwealth and Council (Los Angeles, 2018), Sansumunhwa (Seoul, 2018) and Hapjungjigu (Seoul, 2017). His work has been included in group exhibitions including Ilmin Museum of Art (Seoul, 2020), Art Sonje Center (Seoul, 2020), Asia Culture Center (Gwangju, 2020), Platform-L (Seoul, 2019), National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Gwacheon, 2019), Total Museum of Contemporary Art (Seoul, 2018) and Audio Visual Pavilion (Seoul, 2017). He also participated in the15th Gwangju Biennale (2024) and 10th Seoul Mediacity Biennale (Seoul, 2018) and he was a resident at Seoul Art Space Geumcheon in 2019.
The relationship between sculpture and LGBTQ+ community
“I’m constantly exploring different creative methodologies and, as I ruminate about how the genre of sculpture has been neglected by the art world, I think about how the LGBTQ community has been largely neglected by history, too.” Choi explores the non-linear narrative potential for contemporary sculpture, reconfiguring both readymade and raw materials in often humorous, lighthearted arrangements that subtly reference bodily forms and the queer experience.
Haneyl Choi, Paiksuk Chung, 2021 | Image courtesy of the artist, P21 and Artsy
He is interested in sculptural substances but also how that substance becomes a form, and how these two things come together to create a representation. His work is very abstract, and involves a lot of interconnected ideas, mostly about identity and self-representation from a queer standpoint. He is also interested in minority communities, including migrant workers, single mothers, queer and trans people. “To respond to society’s continuing treatment of the LGBTQ community as ‘abnormal’, I portrayed my friends, who are living, breathing and productive, contributing members of society, as sculptures, in mundane city settings.”
Body and sculptural substances in his body of work
In Choi’s works, the human body – whether figurative or abstract in form – is never usually represented as a complete body, but as parts that are cut up and put together. His work centres on deconstruction, represented by the cross-sections of body parts, and reconstruction, represented by the assembly of hexahedrons. Choi has been changing the materials in his works. “A common material in my work is Plexiglas. I like that it’s transparent and it compartmentalizes. I thought it was interesting to wrap a hexahedron in Plexiglas – you can see it, but you can’t touch it. It gives you a sense of being trapped… In other pieces, I use silicone to coat the materials because it feels very much like human skin, while the metals I use are harder and colder.”
Choi Haneyl’s studio | Image courtesy of the artist and Frieze
In Art Basel Hong Kong in 2021, his solo exhibition presented by P21 Gallery marks his first foray at the premier international art show, as well as his artistic debut in Hong Kong. His works represent a series of minimal metal sculptures portraying his LGBTQ+ friends. Choi refers to K-pop’s gay-themed fanfiction, a genre of fictionalised depictions of K-pop singers in popular bands such as BTS.
Haneyl Choi, Mini Han, 2021 | Image courtesy of the artist, P21 and Ocula
Choi’s first institutional solo exhibition “Bulky” at the Arario Museum in Space, Seoul in 2021 focuses on the culture of gay male bodybuilding. His works are composed from a wide range of modern materials from aluminium to silicon, as well as everyday objects.
Installation view of “Bulky” at the Arario Museum in Space, Seoul, 2021 | Image courtesy of the artist, Arario Museum in Space and Studio RANG
Since 2023, Choi has been working on “Uncle” Series. “Uncle” refers to a man whose identity is not clear, but who looks a little older. This term was appropriate for queer people. From 2025, Choi started dropping “Uncle” and changing the title to include different members of the family as he thought queer people are basically interested in the family system, especially there are a lot of people who are not properly bound to the family system because of their queer identity. “Newphew” (2025) is one of the new works in this series, made of stainless steel and cement.
Choi Haneyl, Nephew, 2025 | Image courtesy of the artist
In his Physicality Series (2023 – present), “Landscape of Abuse” (2025) and “Play: Rhythm of Abuse” (2023) are exemplary works of his “trauma-scapes”. Through the juxtaposition of fragile organic forms and cold industrial matter, these works reveal a paradoxical symbiosis in which struggle and resistance, confinement and sanctuary, pain and repair coexist.
